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Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

Those reverberatory bells heard around downtown emanate from this fifth California mission, founded by Padre Junípero Serra in 1772 and named for a 13th-century French saint. Cradled by bountiful gardens, the modest church has an unusual L-shape and whitewashed walls decorated with Stations of the Cross. The friars' former residential quarters now house an old-fashioned museum with artifacts illustrating life during the Chumash tribal and Spanish colonial periods. Interesting guided tours run most days at 1:15pm.

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